Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

[JohnnyGossamer]

Enjoyed it quite a bit. Still prefer Mad Mel's Apocalypto, Evans' Raid 2 and Kim Jee-woon's Good, Bad, Weird & I Saw The Devil so far as nutrageous, exhilarating action goes in the last decade. Admittedly, Fury Road has more to say. Much more. Dash has covered it well. Though, as much as I adored it, not unlike Furious 7 with the car-scraping from tower to tower, Fury Road somewhat peaked with the operatic, phantasmagoric sandstorm.

B/B+

I kept thinking of Apocalypto more than Mad Max films while watching. Maybe, should some sequels come to pass and Miller grow too old, Mel can take the reins. I actually thought that one, while not as inventive with imagery and/or action beats, held my attention much more. Exhilarated me much more. Maybe because I was caught off guard by it while going into Fury Road with heightened expectations. With that in mind, a planned second viewing will likely have me upping my grade. I really was downright bored with the wives, especially after Transformers 3 died. And, honestly, aside from Furiosa, I didn't feel invested in any character even remotely. But, again, maybe the action was so batshit loopy that my brain chose to not to invest in them. As with everyone else, Most Valuable Weirdo goes to flaming guitar boy.

Even with some reservations, hope this flick goes bonkers at the box office. I'd love to see studios ask talented young filmmakers to let loose more. A movie like this paves a path for that hope.

Edited May 15, 2015 by JohnnyGossamer

[dashrendar44]

I kept thinking of Apocalypto more than Mad Max films while watching. Maybe, should some sequels come to pass and Miller grow too old, Mel can take the reins. I actually thought that one, while not as inventive with imagery and/or action beats, held my attention much more.

 

I'd be totally game for a Mel Gibson's directed Mad Max. In fact, it's so evident and adequate with his nervous and brutal directing, I hadn't even thought of it until then. Good call.

[Plain Old Tele]

the old MM films must have achieved the effect better, more seamless, because I don't remember being annoyed and/or distracted by it in them.

 

Actually, in the ROAD WARRIOR it's quite a bit more obvious and a "cheat" (in FURY ROAD it's being used to convey absolute frenetic-ness; in RW, it's covering up that the cars aren't moving very fast).

Edited May 15, 2015 by Telemachos

[dashrendar44]

Actually, in the ROAD WARRIOR it's quite a bit more obvious and a "cheat" (in FURY ROAD it's being used to convey absolute frenetic-ness; in RW, it's covering up that the cars aren't moving very fast).

 

They're so obvious, I don't know how you can miss them. The speed-ramping moment when Wez's buggy is in Mario Kart power-up boost then bashes the Interceptor that crashes. All the shots are sped up including Mel Gibson's reaction shot.

 

Here is the scene.

[JohnnyGossamer]

Speeding up the frames served it well. Agree. I thought it served Raid 2 well too. I think if it's executed properly, it works extremely well. Hell, I even liked when Hitchcock did it in 39 Steps. Pretty jarring but it serviced a foot chase well in that one.

[Mulder]

Holy shit was Mad Max amazing. 9.5-10/10 easily. Crazy good!

[AniNate]

I'm not as over-the-moon about it as the critics are but it's still pretty fun, and it's refreshing to see a blockbuster with a simplified narrative like this. I think the main reason my reaction is so tempered is because I think it does fall victim to a criticism a lot of people had with the Transformers movies; in that I sometimes wasn't really sure who was fighting who and which car was ramming which, especially in the climactic battle.

Edited May 15, 2015 by tribefan695

[TalismanRing]

Went to this tonight for my brother's birthday.  Ummm.  A really expensive, nicely photographed and edited, goofy, dumb often unpleasant B movie.  Charlize was the only one with a sort of character as opposed to a caricature to play.  Hardy was really underused.  So much of the action was as repetitive as it was unrelenting but at least they saved the best for the last 20 minutes.

Edited May 16, 2015 by TalismanRing

[jb007]

Just now rewatched The Road Warrior. It is way better than Fury Road. The action scenes are completely inspired by the Road Warrior.

[ACCA]

What a lovely, LOVELY DAY!

 

A+++. A letter grade above A needs to be invented for this film.

 

Absolutely ASTONISHING film. No other words I can think of to even adequately do it justice.

 

Easily one of the best action movies ever made in film history.

Easily film of the year so far.

One of the greatest visual storytelling films ever (I'll explain that below).

 

After seeing it at an early screening last night, I thought about it, mulled it over, and I can't think of a SINGLE thing that I didn't like about it.

 

The action...obviously I don't need to talk about it.

The amount of little details in every frame and shot, people doing things in the background, weirdos being weird in all kinds of nooks and crannies in the shot, simply astonishing. It was extremely hard to take everything in from just a first viewing. This is a film that demands multiple viewings to really pick up on everything going on.

Visually it was a masterpiece. Most people haven't mentioned this, but there was minimal dialogue throughout the entire film, and most of the film's story was told purely through the visuals as well as the soundtrack. This is harkening almost back to the silent era of films. There were lots and lots of little things all the various actors and actresses did during the majority of the film scenes where there was no dialogue...the things they did conveyed lots of information. Extremely rare to see this sort of storytelling in a modern day film.

The soundtrack fit the film perfectly. It really moved me figuratively speaking, and it really helped tell the film's story, and the character's story without using dialogue.

The combination of scenes that were sped up, to the scenes the were slowed down was perfectly implemented. The sped up scenes helped up the emotion and feeling of the chaos and hectic pace going on. The slowed down shots helped you to breathe for a second and look around at everything that was going on, because there was SO much occurring on-screen.

The overall atmosphere of the film and the world of the film was just mind blowing.

 

Also, The Doof Warrior (flamethrower metal guitarist) is my hero. One of the most incredible movie characters I've seen in a long, long time.

 

(Full disclosure: I'm a big Mad Max fan from the old films).

Edited May 16, 2015 by Gonk

[iceroll]

Actually one of the most amazing and exhilarating movies in the past few years. I was on edge the whole time, it literally did not slow down!

 

The 3D was also really well done, there were so many times where I flinched and even ducked because of stuff flying out from the screen.

 

A+

[Kalo]

Beyond amazing.. the action the cinematography, score, direction pace, Charlize Theron.. Tom Hardy, Nicholas hoult.. I called my nephew right when it was over to tell him how amazing it was and I couldn't  speak.. I was literally left shaking and speechless at the end of the film. everything about this movie was amazing. A++     

[GeneralKong]

Loved it. Just when you think it can't get any crazier, the film consistently finds a way to one-up itself. One of the best theater experiences I've had in a long time. 

 

9/10 

[Fancyarcher]

Action masterpiece, simply put. I was amazed throughout the entirety of the film. It's also worth watching on the big screen, more then once. A+++++

Edited May 16, 2015 by Furiousarcher

[shayhiri]

Ma Man Mad Max - that is officially the best movie since LOTR. 12/10, game-changer, rule maker, perfect in every possible way.

[ChD]

I went in an atheist and came out believing in a God, and that God is George Miller.

[dashrendar44]

I went in an atheist and came out believing in a God, and that God is George Miller.

 

WITNESS HIM!

[Thrylos 7]

Disappointing and I really wanted to like it . There is basically , almost, no plot just nicely designed grotesque characters chasing each other . The action is nice , at first, and then gets tiresome when it's the same thing over and over and over . Tom hardy doesn't have 1% of Mel gibson's charisma and his role ...well he is just there for most of the film . They went over the top with the design of the characters and cars and reached a level of "way too much" . I felt tired when it was over . They made a whole movie out of the action scenes of the road warrior without anything else and I find th action in the road warrior still way better .

Oh and why was this an r rated film ? There was no violence or even bad laguage in this .

[#ED]

A BEAUTIFUL MOVIE.

[AniNate]

Oh and why was this an r rated film ? There was no violence or even bad laguage in this .

 

I'd agree except for the villain's demise.

Edited May 16, 2015 by tribefan695